Why Did Lincoln Start In Liberia

Liberia is the most well-known republic founded in order to move freed slaves out of the country. What many people are not aware of though is that there was actually another republic that Lincoln started in Haiti. Lincoln had signed a contract with Haiti that gave the government ownership of a small island off of Haiti named Ile à Vache (Gordon). This contract was signed the night before the Emancipation Proclamation was effective in 1862. Lincoln met with a contractor and discussed ways to get movement to the colony. With the contractor, he also talked about how they could get enough supplies to support the first five thousand settlers. Soon everything was set into action and the settlers were on their way to Ile à Vache (Gordon). On the way
They also did not have the supplies to support so many people being sick. The settlers started with 5,000 people and by the end only had 500 (Gordon). The contractor Lincoln had hired to watch over the settlers started to become power hungry. He stole money from the freed slaves and made them do whatever he told them too. He essentially made them become slaves again in order to build the settlement. The government soon found out about the contractor being a tyrant over the settlement and sent new people to come help. By the time they got there though, everything within the settlement was out of control. Many of the settlers ran away to different parts of Haiti which forced Lincoln to send a ship to rescues the people who were still on the island of Ile à Vache
He could not force them to go over to Liberia or Ile à Vache because they were free, but he strongly suggests that they support his idea. The African American community did not fully support the idea, but after the event that took place on Ile à Vache they became even more weary (Gordon). Lincoln held a conference with a few influential African American men in hope they would tell people to support the colonization. He strongly suggested they should support his efforts because slavery was the root of the war. Lincoln said this because African Americans reminded whites of slavery; therefore, they needed to leave in order to preserve the peace. He essentially told the slaves that if we are both separated from each other than we will live better lives (Masur). This raised different emotions throughout the African American community. Some were shocked and upset, but others saw the view point Lincoln was trying to make. African Americans thought they could tolerate living together with white but, some thought colonization would be an easy way to escape the violence that engulfed the United States at the time. The people who did not think blacks should leave believed that they had a right to say in the United States (Gordon). Their argument was that they were born here; therefore, they should be able to stay because they were natural born citizens. The